Francis Lieber to Senator Charles Sumner, March 5, 1864

New York, March 5, 1884.

I send you a copy of the amendments which I think, and many of which I have long thought, ought to be engrafted on our Constitution. I have endeavored to show the perfect propriety of making amendments, — the necessity of doing so; that our Rebellion arose out of two elements, slavery and State-rights doctrine, and that the points which we now must consider as settled and past all discussion are: that the integrity of our country and our nationality shall not be given up; that slavery must be extinguished. I have tried to show that no one within the American polity is sovereign, and that the word ought never to have slipped in, as Coke declared in the House of Commons, when the Bill of Rights was discussing, — that the English law does not know the word sovereign. I then showed that in a constitution we cannot get at this sovereignty except through the subject of allegiance. You will also find there the reason why I use the expression “plenary allegiance,” which, accurately speaking, is a pleonasm, since all modern allegiance is plenary, and double allegiance is nonsense. There you will also see why I bring in the crime of sedition. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 342

Francis Lieber to Judge Thayer, February 3, 1864

New York, February 3, 1864.

. . . You will be pleased to consider what I am going to write as strictly confidential; not that I ever hide my thoughts, but I speak out only when called upon, or where necessary. As to the war-power of the President to abolish slavery, I have not yet been able to understand it. As I have stated in the little Code (General Order No. 100, of 1863), a commander may declare servitude abolished in a conquered territory; and thus the President, I think, could abolish it in a territory occupied by our troops (following in the Rebellion the general laws of war); but to declare slavery abolished in territories where we are not, would require legislative power (within the Constitution), and the President has not this power. When Napoleon was urged to declare all Russian serfs free, at the beginning of the Russian campaign, those who urged him could of course only mean that he should hold out to the serfs their freedom in case he should conquer, and thus befriend the serfs. Nevertheless, slavery must be abolished. What then? The whole Rebellion is beyond the Constitution. The Constitution was not made for such a state of things; it was not dreamt of by the framers. We must cut and hew through the thicket as best we can, and see how, later, we can adjust matters, either by amending the Constitution — which I think we must do at all events — or by silently adopting what was done at the period when not the President but the people had assumed dictatorial power. I know very well how dangerous such a power is; but the life of the nation is the first substantive thing, and far above the formulas which very properly have been adopted. . . . In all struggles of long continuance, some points must be considered at certain periods as settled and past discussion. Without it, no progress is possible. No astronomer could pursue his science if he had to prove over again, at every single step, the correctness of the multiplication table. What are the things settled at this period of our struggle? I think these: The people are conscious that they constitute and ought to constitute a nation, with a God-appointed country, the integrity of which they will not and must not give up, cost what it may, — blood in torrents and wealth uncounted; that at this period nothing can decide but victory in the field. The more efficient, therefore, the army is made, and the more unequivocally the conquest of the South, the better for all, North and South.

That slavery must be extinguished, either absolutely, or so crippled that it must perish within a lustre or two; that the State-rights doctrine, understood as it is by the men who follow the mischievous theory of Mr. Calhoun, must perish. No one whatever, and no body of men, is sovereign within the United States. The word does not exist in our law. We in America know of sovereignty only in its international sense. The United States are sovereign with reference to other independent or sovereign States, and that is all. I speak of this advisedly, having repeatedly lectured on it in the law school, and consequently dug deep into the subject. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 339-41

Francis Lieber to Edward Bates, April 8, 1862

New York, April 8, 1862.

Sorry as I was to see your note of the 5th instead of yourself, I was nevertheless glad to hear once more from you. I agree with you regarding the absolute necessity of having the Mississippi. From the very beginning of the Civil War I have been convinced that the two main problems immediately to be solved were the possession of the whole Mississippi, and the conquest of Virginia and North Carolina. That done, the rest of the military work would soon and naturally follow. When I was lately in the West in search of one of my sons, wounded in the capture of Fort Donelson, I found the spirit of the soldiers excellent. The idea that the Mississippi belongs to them, in the fullest sense of the term, pervaded all, officer and private; and every one seemed fully to rely on General Halleck for the execution of that great work. General Halleck is a man. Why, however, every one asks, can we not keep step with the Western people? It would have been delightful to me to be able to converse with you on some points not belonging to the military portion of the history of this war, but not the less important, perhaps far more important. But it was not to be. Have you observed that I am attacked on the Habeas Corpus topic? Mr. Binney informs me that he is going very shortly to publish his No. II. on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus privilege. Many pamphlets have been published against him. I do not know whether he wishes this to be known, but the pamphlet will soon be out. My son Hamilton lost his left arm at Fort Donelson; and you may have observed that General Halleck has nominated him aid on his staff, with the rank of captain, for distinguished services in the capture of Fort Donelson, in which he was twice wounded. . . .

. . . His bravery is very highly spoken of. Of course his wound is not yet healed, but he does well. I have written to Mr. Childs to send me, if he can, a copy of the article “Lieber” in the forthcoming volume of Dr. Allibone's Dictionary. It contains a pretty full list of my works, for which you inquire in your letter. As soon as I receive it, it will be sent to you. The great question, what is to be done after we shall have taken possession of the revolted portions of our country, must present itself daily more seriously to the mind of the President, and to all his advisers. I have told my friend Charles Sumner that I cannot agree with his first position; there is too much State Rights Doctrine in it for me. But I am far from agreeing with those who seem to think that a revolted State, after such a catastrophe, may Jump back into the old state of things, like that famous old man, you will remember, who

. . . jumped into a bramble bush

And scratched out both his eyes;

And when he saw his eyes were out,

With all his might and main

He jumped into another bush,

And seratched them in again.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 326-8

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: August 29, 1862

The Richmond papers of yesterday mention two severe skirmishes on the Rappahannock within a week The enemy are retreating through Culpeper, Orange, etc., and our men are driving them on. General Jackson has reached Warrenton. Burnside's army is said to be near Fredericksburg, and Pope retreating towards Manassas. The safe situation of this town makes it a city of refuge to many. Several of our old friends are here. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon, of Alexandria, are just across the passage from us; the Irwins are keeping house, and Mrs. Charles Minor is boarding very near us. This evening our friends the S's arrived. None but persons similarly situated can know the heartfelt pleasure of meeting with home friends, and talking of home scenes — of going back, as we did this evening, to the dear old times when we met together in our own parlours, with none to make us afraid. We see very little of Lynchburg society, but in this pleasant boarding-house, with refugee society, we want nothing more. The warmest feelings of my heart have been called forth, by meeting with one of the most intimate friends of my youth — now Mrs. Judge Daniel. We met the other day in the church-door, for the first time for many, many years. Time has done its work with us both, but we instantly recognized each other. Since that time, not a day has passed without some affectionate demonstration on her part towards us. At her beautiful home, more than a mile from town, I found her mother, my venerable and venerated friend Mrs. Judge Cabell, still the elegant, accomplished lady, the cheerful, warm-hearted, Christian Virginia woman. At four-score, the fire kindles in her eye as she speaks of our wrongs. “What would your father and my husband have thought of these times,” she said to me — “men who loved and revered the Union, who would have yielded up their lives to support the Constitution, in its purity, but who could never have given up their cherished doctrines of State rights, nor have yielded one jot or tittle of their independence to the aggressions of the North?” She glories in having sons and grandsons fighting for the South. Two of the latter have already fallen in the great cause; I trust that the rest may be spared to her.

I see that the Northern papers, though at first claiming a victory at “Cedar Run,” now confess that they lost three thousand killed and wounded, two generals wounded, sundry colonels aid other officers. The Times is severe upon Pope — thinks it extraordinary that, as he knew two days before that the battle must take place, he did not have a larger force at hand; and rather “strange” that he should have been within six miles of the battle-field, and did not reach it until the fight was nearly over! They say, as usual, that they were greatly outnumbered! Strange, that with their myriads, they should be so frequently outnumbered on the battle-field! It is certain that our loss there was comparatively very small; though we have to mourn General Winder of the glorious Stonewall Brigade, and about two hundred others, all valuable lives.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 132-4

Diary of William Howard Russell: April 5, 1861

Dined with the Southern Commissioners and a small party at Gautier's, a French restaurateur in Pennsylvania Avenue. The gentlemen present were, I need not say, all of one way of thinking; but as these leaves will see the light before the civil war is at an end, it is advisable not to give their names, for it would expose persons resident in Washington, who may not be suspected by the Government, to those marks of attention which they have not yet ceased to pay to their political enemies. Although I confess that in my judgment too much stress has been laid in England on the severity with which the Federal authorities have acted towards their political enemies, who were seeking their destruction, it may be candidly admitted, that they have forfeited all claim to the lofty position they once occupied as a Government existing by moral force, and by the consent of the governed, to which Bastilles and lettrès de cachêt, arbitrary arrests, and doubtful, illegal, if not altogether unconstitutional, suspension of habeas corpus and of trial by jury were unknown.

As Col. Pickett and Mr. Banks are notorious Secessionists, and Mr. Phillips has since gone South, after the arrest of his wife on account of her anti-federal tendencies, it may be permitted-to mention that they were among the guests. I had pleasure in making the acquaintance of Governor Roman. Mr. Crawford, his brother commissioner, is a much younger man, of considerably greater energy and determination, but probably of less judgment. The third commissioner, Mr. Forsyth, is fanatical in his opposition to any suggestions of compromise or reconstruction; but, indeed, upon that point, there is little difference of opinion amongst any of the real adherents of the South. Mr. Lincoln they spoke of with contempt; Mr. Seward they evidently regarded as the ablest and most unscrupulous of their enemies; but the tone in which they alluded to the whole of the Northern people indicated the clear conviction that trade, commerce, the pursuit of gain, manufacture, and the base mechanical arts, had so degraded the whole race, they would never attempt to strike a blow in fair fight for what they prized so highly in theory and in words. Whether it be in consequence of some secret influence which slavery has upon the minds of men, or that the aggression of the North upon their institutions has been of a nature to excite the deepest animosity and most vindictive hate, certain it is there is a degree of something like ferocity in the Southern mind towards New England which exceeds belief. I am persuaded that these feelings of contempt are extended towards England. They believe that we, too, have had the canker of peace upon us. One evidence of this, according to Southern men, is the abolition of duelling. This practice, according to them, is highly wholesome and meritorious; and, indeed, it may be admitted that in the state of society which is reported to exist in the Southern States, it is a useful check on such men as it restrained in our own islands in the last century. In the course of conversation, one gentleman remarked that he considered it disgraceful for any man to take money for the dishonor of his wife or his daughter. “With us,” he said, “there is but one mode of dealing known. The man who dares tamper with the honor of a white woman, knows what he has to expect. We shoot him down like a dog, and no jury in the South will ever find any man guilty of murder for punishing such a scoundrel.” An argument which can scarcely be alluded to was used by them, to show that these offences in Slave States had not the excuse which might be adduced to diminish their gravity when they occurred in States where all the population were white. Indeed, in this, as in some other matters of a similar character, slavery is their summum bonum of morality, physical excellence, and social purity. I was inclined to question the correctness of the standard which they had set up, and to inquire whether the virtue which needed this murderous use of the pistol and the dagger to defend it, was not open to some doubt; but I found there was very little sympathy with my views among the company.

The gentlemen at table asserted that the white men in the Slave States are physically superior to the men of the Free States; and indulged in curious theories in morals and physics to which I was a stranger. Disbelief of anything a Northern man — that is, a Republican — can say, is a fixed principle in their minds. I could not help remarking, when the conversation turned on the duplicity of Mr. Seward, and the wickedness of the Federal Government in refusing to give the assurance Sumter would not be relieved by force of arms, that it must be of very little consequence what promises Mr. Seward made, as, according to them, not the least reliance was to be placed on his word. The notion that the Northern men are cowards is justified by instances in which congressmen have been insulted by Southern men without calling them out, and Mr. Sumner's case was quoted as the type of the affairs of the kind between the two sides. I happened to say that I always understood Mr. Sumner had been attacked suddenly and unexpectedly, and struck down before he could rise from his desk to defend himself; whereupon a warm refutation of that version of the story was given, and I was assured that Mr. Brooks, who was a very slight man, and much inferior in height to Mr. Sumner, struck him a slight blow at first, and only inflicted the heavier strokes when irritated by the Senator's cowardly demeanor In reference to some remark made about the cavaliers and their connection with the South, I reminded the gentleman that, after all, the descendants of the Puritans were not to be despised in battle: and that the best gentry in England were worsted at last by the train-bands of London, and the “rabbledom” of Cromwell's Independents.

Mr., or Colonel, Pickett, is a tall good-looking man, of pleasant manners, and well-educated. But this gentleman was a professed buccaneer, a friend of Walker, the gray-eyed man of destiny — his comrade in his most dangerous razzie. He was a newspaper writer, a soldier, a filibuster; and he now threw himself into the cause of the South with vehemence; it was not difficult to imagine he saw in that cause the realization of the dreams of empire in the south of the Gulf, and of conquest in the islands of the sea, which have such a fascinating influence over the imagination of a large portion of the American people. He referred to Walker's fate with much bitterness, and insinuated he was betrayed by the British officer who ought to have protected him.

The acts of Mr. Floyd and Mr. Howell Cobb, which must be esteemed of doubtful morality, are here justified by the States' Rights doctrine. If the States had a right to go out, hey were quite right in obtaining their quota of the national property which would not have been given to them by the Lincolnites. Therefore, their friends were not to be censured because they had sent arms and money to the South.

Altogether the evening, notwithstanding the occasional warmth of the controversy, was exceedingly instructive; one could understand from the vehemence and force of the speakers the full meaning of the phrase of “firing the Southern heart,” so often quoted as an illustration of the peculiar force of political passion to be brought to bear against the Republicans in the Secession contest. Mr. Forsyth, struck me as being the most astute, and perhaps most capable, of the gentlemen whose mission to Washington seems likely to be so abortive. His name is historical in America — his father filled high office, and his son has also exercised diplomatic function. Despotisms and Republics of the American model approach each other closely. In Turkey the Pasha unemployed sinks into insignificance, and the son of the Pasha deceased is literally nobody. Mr. Forsyth was not selected as Southern Commissioner on account of the political status acquired by his father; but the position gained by his own ability, as editor of “The Mobile Register,” induced the Confederate authorities to select him for the post. It is quite possible to have made a mistake in such matters, but I am almost certain that the colored waiters who attended us at table looked as sour and discontented as could be, and seemed to give their service with a sort of protest. I am told that the tradespeople of Washington are strongly inclined to favor the Southern side.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 63-6

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: May 6, 1862

Mine is a painful, self-imposed task: but why write when I have nothing to chronicle but disaster?¹ So I read instead: First, Consuelo, then Columba, two ends of the pole certainly, and then a translated edition of Elective Affinities. Food enough for thought in every one of this odd assortment of books.

At the Prestons', where I am staying (because Mr. Chesnut has gone to see his crabbed old father, whom he loves, and who is reported ill), I met Christopher Hampton. He tells us Wigfall is out on a warpath; wants them to strike for Maryland. The President's, opinion of the move is not given. Also Mr. Hampton met the first lieutenant of the Kirkwoods, E. M. Boykin. Says he is just the same man he was in the South Carolina College. In whatever company you may meet him, he is the pleasantest man there.

A telegram reads: “We have repulsed the enemy at Williamsburg.”² Oh, if we could drive them back “to their ain countree!” Richmond was hard pressed this day. The Mercury of to-day says, “Jeff Davis now treats all men as if they were idiotic insects.”

Mary Preston said all sisters quarreled. No, we never quarrel, I and mine. We keep all our bitter words for our enemies. We are frank heathens; we hate our enemies and love our friends. Some people (our kind) can never make up after a quarrel; hard words once only and all is over. To us forgiveness is impossible. Forgiveness means calm indifference; philosophy, while love lasts. Forgiveness of love's wrongs is impossible. Those dutiful wives who piously overlook — well, everything — do not care one fig for their husbands. I settled that in my own mind years ago. Some people think it magnanimous to praise their enemies and to show their impartiality and justice by acknowledging the faults of their friends. I am for the simple rule, the good old plan. I praise whom I love and abuse whom I hate.

Mary Preston has been translating Schiller aloud. We are provided with Bulwer's translation, Mrs. Austin's, Coleridge's, and Carlyle's, and we show how each renders the passage Mary is to convert into English. In Wallenstein at one point of the Max and Thekla scene, I like Carlyle better than Coleridge, though they say Coleridge's Wallenstein is the only translation in the world half so good as the original. Mrs. Barstow repeated some beautiful scraps by Uhland, which I had never heard before. She is to write them for us. Peace, and a literary leisure for my old age, unbroken by care and anxiety!

General Preston accused me of degenerating into a boarding-house gossip, and is answered triumphantly by his daughters: “But, papa, one you love to gossip with full well.”

Hampton estate has fifteen hundred negroes on Lake Washington, Mississippi. Hampton girls talking in the language of James's novels: “Neither Wade nor Preston — that splendid boy! — would lay a lance in rest — or couch it, which is the right phrase for fighting, to preserve slavery. They hate it as we do.” “What are they fighting for?” “Southern rights — whatever that is. And they do not want to be understrappers forever to the Yankees. They talk well enough about it, but I forget what they say.” Johnny Chesnut says: “No use to give a reason — a fellow could not stay away from the fight — not well.” It takes four negroes to wait on Johnny satisfactorily.

It is this giving up that kills me. Norfolk they talk of now; why not Charleston next? I read in a Western letter, “Not Beauregard, but the soldiers who stopped to drink the whisky they had captured from the enemy, lost us Shiloh.” Cock Robin is as dead as he ever will be now; what matters it who killed him?

_______________

¹ The Siege of Yorktown was begun on April 5, 1862, the place being evacuated by the Confederates on May 4th.

² The battle of Williamsburg was fought on May 5, 1862, by a part of McClellan's army, under General Hooker and others, the Confederates being commanded by General Johnston.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 161-3

Diary of William Howard Russell: Good Friday, March 29, 1861

The religious observance of the day was not quite as strict as it would be in England. The Puritan aversion to ceremonials and formulary observances has apparently affected the American world, even as far south as this. The people of color were in the streets dressed in their best. The first impression produced by fine bonnets, gay shawls, brightly-colored dresses, and silk brodequins, on black faces, flat figures, and feet to match, is singular; but, in justice to the backs of many of the gaudily-dressed women, who, in little groups, were going to church or chapel, it must be admitted that this surprise only came upon one when he got a front view. The men generally affected black coats, silk or satin waistcoats, and parti-colored pantaloons. They carried Missal or Prayer-book, pocket-handkerchief, cane, or parasol, with infinite affectation of correctness.

As I was looking out of the window, a very fine, tall young negro, dressed irreproachably, save as to hat and boots, passed by. “I wonder what he is?” I exclaimed inquiringly to a gentleman who stood beside me. “Well,” he said, “that fellow is not a free nigger; he looks too respectable. I dare say you could get him for 1500 dollars, without his clothes. You know,” continued he, “what our Minister said when he saw a nigger at some Court in Europe, and was asked what he thought of him: ‘Well, I guess,’ said he, ‘if you take off his fixings, he may be worth 1000 dollars down.’” In the course of the day. Mr. Banks, a corpulent, energetic young Virginian, of strong Southern views, again called on me. As the friend of the Southern Commissioners he complained vehemently of the refusal of Mr. Seward to hold intercourse with him. “These fellows mean treachery, but we will balk them.” In answer to a remark of mine, that the English Minister would certainly refuse to receive Commissioners from any part of the Queen's dominions which had seized upon the forts and arsenals of the empire and menaced war, he replied: “The case is quite different. The Crown claims a right to govern the whole of your empire; but the Austrian Government could not refuse to receive a deputation from Hungary for an adjustment of grievances; nor could any State belonging to the German Diet attempt to claim sovereignty over another, because they were members of the same Confederation.” I remarked “that his views of the obligations of each State of the Union were perfectly new to me, as a stranger ignorant of the controversies which distracted them. An Englishman had nothing to do with a Virginian and New Yorkist, or a South Carolinian — he scarcely knew anything of a Texan, or of an Arkansian; we only were conversant with the United States as an entity; and all our dealings were with citizens of the United States of North America.” This, however, only provoked logically diffuse dissertations on the Articles of the Constitution, and on the spirit of the Federal Compact.

Later in the day, I had the advantage of a conversation with Mr. Truman Smith, an old and respected representative in former days, who gave me a very different account of the matter; and who maintained that by the Federal Compact each State had delegated irrevocably the essence of its sovereignty to a Government to be established in perpetuity for the benefit of the whole body. The Slave States, seeing that the progress of free ideas, and the material power of the North, were obtaining an influence which must be subversive of the supremacy they had so long exercised in the Federal Government for their own advantage, had developed this doctrine of States' Rights as a cloak to treason, preferring the material advantages to be gained by the extension of their system to the grand moral position which they would occupy as a portion of the United States in the face of all the world. It is on such radical differences of ideas as these, that the whole of the quarrel, which is widening every day, is founded. The Federal Compact, at the very outset, was written on a torn sheet of paper, and time has worn away the artificial cement by which it was kept together. The corner-stone of the Constitution had a crack in it, which the heat and fury of faction have widened into a fissure from top to bottom, never to be closed again.

In the evening I had the pleasure of dining with an American gentleman who has seen much of the world, travelled far and wide, who has read much and beheld more, a scholar, a politician, after his way, a poet, and an ologist — one of those modern Groeculi, who is unlike his prototype in Juvenal only in this, that he is not hungry, and that he will not go to heaven if you order him.

Such men never do or can succeed in the United States; they are far too refined, philosophical, and cosmopolitan. From what I see, success here may be obtained by refined men, if they are dishonest, never by philosophical men, unless they be corrupt — not by cosmopolitan men under any circumstances whatever; for to have sympathies with any people, or with any nation in the world, except his own, is to doom a statesman with the American public, unless it be in the form of an affectation of pity or good will, intended really as an offence to some allied people. At dinner there was the very largest naval officer I have ever seen in company, although I must own that our own service is not destitute of some good specimens, and I have seen an Austrian admiral at Pola, and the superintendent of the Arsenal at Tophaneh, who were not unfit to be marshals of France. This Lieutenant, named Nelson, was certainly greater in one sense than his British namesake, for he weighed 260 pounds.

It may be here remarked, passim and obiter, that the Americans are much more precise than ourselves in the enumeration of weights and matters of this kind. They speak of pieces of artillery, for example, as being of so many pounds weight, and of so many inches long, where we would use cwts. and feet. With a people addicted to vertical rather than lateral extension in everything but politics and morals, precision is a matter of importance. I was amused by a description of some popular personage I saw in one of the papers the other day, which after an enumeration of many high mental and physical attributes, ended thus, “In fact he is a remarkably fine high-toned gentleman, and weighs 210 pounds.”

The Lieutenant was a strong Union man, and he inveighed fiercely, and even coarsely, against the members of his profession who had thrown up their commissions. The superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard is supposed to be very little disposed in favor of this present Government; in fact, Capt. Buchanan may be called a Secessionist, nevertheless, I am invited to the wedding of his daughter, in order to see the President give away the bride. Mr. Nelson says, Sumter and Pickens are to be reinforced. Charleston is to be reduced to order, and all traitors hanged, or he will know the reason why; and, says he, “I have some weight in the country.” In the evening, as we were going home, notwithstanding the cold, we saw a number of ladies sitting out on the door-steps, in white dresses. The streets were remarkably quiet and deserted; all the colored population had been sent to bed long ago. The fire-bell, as usual, made an alarm or two about midnight

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 46-9

Diary of Major Rutherford B. Hayes: Sunday, August 11, 1861

Raining this morning, very warm. Arrested, on complaint of a Union man, H. T. Martin, a secession editor, who is charged with holding communication with James and William Bennett, leaders of a guerrilla party. He was formerly from Ohio. Is a Southern state's-right Democrat in talk, and makes a merit of holding secession opinions. Having been engaged in getting up troops for the Southern army, the colonel will probably send him to Ohio.

Colonel Lytle's men fired on near Bulltown; one killed, four wounded; guerrilla party in the hills out of reach. Our regiment did not destroy records. We have sent two captains and eighty men after the guerrillas.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 63

Senator James W. Grimes to Senator William P. Fessenden, May 12, 1861

Burlington, May 12,1861.

I have just received your note of the 9th inst., inclosing one to your son, which I reinclose to you. I returned from Washington last Monday in the night, whither I went at the instance of our State authorities, and found that Frank had been here and left, remaining but one day, and that he spent at the tavern. Mrs. G. says she tried to induce him to remain, and to make our house his home, but he had his head full of the army, and was in a great hurry to get away. I am sorry that he did not remain a little longer, that we might have seen more of him.

It is quite evident to my mind that this great rebellion is to be suppressed; but, in the effort, it occurs to me that we are about to encourage precedents that will be very dangerous to the rights of the States, and to the liberties of the people. This attempt of Mr. Lincoln to add ten legions to the regular standing army, each legion to equal in size three regiments, without any authority of law, and against law, is the most extraordinary assumption of power that any President has attempted to exercise. Our ancestors were so jealous of executive power that they refused to allow the President to call even the militia into service for a period exceeding thirty days after the assembling of the next ensuing session of Congress. Mr. Lincoln is not content with violating that law, and calling for volunteers for three years, making them in effect a standing army subject to his will, but he goes away beyond that, and more than doubles the standing army, and issues commissions to officers which are not authorized by law. Where is this to stop? Will he be content with ten legions? If so, will the next President? What do you think of this thing? I do not wish to oppose the Administration, but I will not support such a measure.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 140

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 28, 1864

ON BOARD GUN-BOAT JULIET,

MOUTH OF WHITE RIVER, January 28, 1864.

. . . I sent you a paper about the banquet² which was really a fine affair. The hall of the Gayoso was crammed and the utmost harmony prevailed. Everything passed off well. My remarks as reported by the Argus were about right. The Bulletin got mere incoherent points. I cannot speak consecutively, but it seems that what I do say is vehemently applauded. The point which may be wrongly conceived was this. As the South resorted to war, we accepted it, and as they fought for Slaves and States' Rights they could not blame us if they lost both as the result of the war; and again, that they, the South, prided themselves on high grounds of honor. I am willing to take issue then adopting their own rules, as those of the most fashionable clubs of London, New Orleans, and Paris. If a member goes into an election he must abide the result or be blackballed or put in Coventry. Now as the Southern people went into the presidential election they, as honorable men, were bound to abide the result. I also described the mode and manner of seizure of the garrison and arsenal at Baton Rouge and pronounced that a breach of soldierly honor, and the firing on boats from behind a cottonwood tree. People at the North may not feel the weight of these points, but I know the South so well that I know what I said will be gall and wormwood to some, but it will make others think. I was at Memphis Tuesday and part of Wednesday. The festival was on Monday and several real old Southerners met me and confessed their cause would be recorded in history as I put it. I was not aware of the hold I had on the people till I was there this time. Hurlbut did not mingle with them and was difficult of access, and every time I went into a theatre or public assemblage there was a storm of applause.  I endeavored to avoid it as much as possible, but it was always so good-natured that I could not repel it. If I succeed in my present blow I would not be surprised if Mississippi would be as Tennessee, but I do not allow myself to be deceived. The Old Regime is not yet dead, and they will fight for their old privileges; yet so many of our old regiments are going on furlough that we will be short-handed. If we had our ranks full I know we could take Mobile and the Alabama River in thirty days and before summer could secure all of Red River also, leaving the Grand Battle to come off in East Tennessee or Georgia in June. We could hold fast all we have and let the South wriggle, but our best plan is activity. . . .

As I am about to march two hundred miles straight into danger with a comparatively small force and that composed of troops in a manner strange to me; but my calculations are all right, and now for the execution. I expect to leave Vicksburg in a very few days, and will cut loose all communications, so you will not hear from me save through the Southern papers till I am back to the Mississippi. You, of course, will be patient and will appreciate my motives in case of accident, for surely I could ask rest and an opportunity for some one else, say McPherson, but there are double reasons: I will never order my command where I am not willing to go, and besides it was politic to break up the force at Memphis which was too large to lie idle, and Hurlbut would not reduce it. I had to bring him away and make a radical change. He ranks McPherson, and we have not confidence enough in his steadiness to put him on this expedition. He is too easily stampeded by rumors. I have a better sense of chances. I run two chances, first, in case the enemy has learned my plans or has guessed them, he may send to Meridian a superior force. A bad road may prevent my moving with the celerity which will command success. Would that I had the Fifteenth corps that would march in sunshine or storm to fulfil my plans without asking what they were. I almost wish I had been left with that specific command, but confess I prefer service near the old Mississippi which enables us to supply ourselves so bountifully. I hear but little from Huntsville, but suppose all our folks are comfortable there. I sent Maj. Taylor, Fitch and McFeely back to Huntsville from Memphis, and have with me only my aids and quarter-master. I don't want any non-combatant mouths along to feed, and am determined this time not to have a tribe of leeches along to consume our food. Not a tent shall be carried or any baggage save on our horses. The wagons and packs shall carry ammunition and food alone. I will set the example myself. Experience has taught me if one tent is carried any quantity of trash will load down the wagons. If I had ten more regiments I would be tempted to try Mobile, but as it is if I break at Meridian and Memphis, I will cut off one of the most fruitful corn supplies of the enemy, and will give Mississippi a chance to rest. The State is now full of conscript gangs carrying to their armies the unwilling, the old and young. We will take all provisions, and God help the starving families! I warned them last year against this last visitation, and now it is at hand. . .

I feel the full load of care and anxiety you bear, mourning for Willy, fearing for the future, and oppressed with intense anxiety for parents. I believe you can bear all, and that you will for our sakes. Just think of me with fifty thousand lives in my hand, with all the anxiety of their families. This load is heavier than even you imagine. . . .

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² In a letter written on the same day to his brother John, Sherman said: "I could not well decline an offer of a public dinner in Memphis, but I dreaded it more than I did the assault on Vicksburg.” See Sherman Letters, p. 221.

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 280-4.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/10.

Cotton And Its Worshippers

The Richmond Congress is puzzled what to do about cotton.  Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, proposes to make it a criminal offence for a planter to grow more than three bales for his family and one bale for each of his field hands.  He though that without some strict prohibitions “a large class of grasping Shylocks” (Southern planters and gentlemen called Shylocks) would certainly go on planting cotton in the hope to make a great profit.

It is a curious comment on the loud professions in favor of free trade and State-rights, that Mr. Brown’s resolution, levying a tax of forty dollars per ball on all cotton grown beyond a certain amount – a flagrant interference with the course of trade, and, as Mr. Hunter remarked, an unconstitutional interference with the States – received in the Confederate Senate nine votes out of twenty, counting the mover, who did not vote.

Mr. Semmes, of Louisiana, said, in the course of the debate, that he “had long since abandoned the idea that cotton is king.  We have tested the powers of King Cotton and found him wanting.”  Mr. Barnwell, of South Carolina, seemed of a similar opinion.  He said:  “We must have a monopoly of the market.  We begin to find out we have not a monopoly, that cotton can be produced elsewhere.”  The planters are evidently awakening to the fact that they are not yet masters of the civilized world. – {National Intelligencer.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 3